The weekly British children’s comic, The Phoenix, is celebrating its fifth birthday on Saturday 7th January 2017

A guest post!

Having launched in 2012, The Phoenix was rated ‘the second best comic in the world’ by Time Magazine. And in 2015 it became the first independent comic in the country to reach Issue 200 since 1969. Now in 2017, The Phoenix is celebrating its fifth birthday.

For five yearsThe Phoenix has been enjoyed by thousands of familes across the nation, and received celebrity endorsements from some of Britain’s best-loved personalities and children’s writers, including Philip Pullman, Michael Murpurgo,Lauren Laverne, Chris Addison and Jacqueline Wilson.

The Phoenix has been bringing award-winning stories to children every Friday for five years.

To celebrate, The Phoenixhave published a fifth birthday issue with a special cover signed by all the contributors who have been involved in making The Phoenix what is it today, including author Philip Pullman and young comic superstars, Jordan Vigay and Jonny Toons, who have both had their work published in The Phoenix.

More and more research shows that comics are great for getting children reading and increasing their literacy levels. The Phoenix comicand The Phoenix Presentsbook series, in association with David Fickling Books, are leading the charge to get comics into the classroom and to get children reading at home.

My class love The Phoenix Presents... books- and so do I! You can read our review of 'Corpse Talk' here , 'Von Doogan and the Great Air Race here and Tamsin and the Deep here.